The first I heard about was Herbert Daniel Gebauer, who died on 19 Nov 2018. Although Daniel caved mostly in the Indian subcontinent, and primarily in Meghalaya, he came to Malaysia in 1993. During his stay in Ipoh, we surveyed Gua Layang Layang as well as Gua Kelawar at Sg Siput Utara. Daniel also spent a few days surveying in Gua Tempurung and produced the first detailed survey of the cave.
Daniel came back one year later in Jan 1994 and this photo was taken in the river at Gunung Mesah, Daniel is on the left, and Liew Chin Chow on the right -
Daniel's papers relating to Malaysian caves :
GEBAUER H.D. 1994 Die Gua Tempurung im fengcong von Ipoh. Der Abseiler Jan 13, 37-43.
GEBAUER H.D. 1993 Die Gua Tempurung. Eine tunnelhohle in Perak. Mitteilungen des Verbandes der deutschen Hohlen und Karstforcher (Munchen) 39(4)84-92.
GEBAUER H.D. & PRICE Liz 1995 Gua Tempurung. JMBRAS 68(1)29-52.
PRICE Liz & GEBAUER H.Daniel 1996 Gua Tempurung, Perak. CSS Jnl, Jan, 23(5)105- 108. Reprinted Oct, 24(1)14-16.
The second person I heard about was Dr Dieter Kock, who died on 28 Nov. Dr Kock worked in the mammals section of the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt. For many years I sent him bat skulls that I collected in Malaysian and other caves and he kindly identified them for me. We co-authored a paper, KOCK, D; ALTMANN, J & PRICE, L (2000) A fruit bat new to West Malaysia: Rousettus leschenaultii (Desmarest 1820) in Batu Caves. MNJ, 54(1)63-67.
In 2005 I took Dr Kock into Dark Cave at Batu Caves -
On that trip, we found a dead mother bat with a living baby still attached by the umbilical cord -
Thank you to both these men for their contribution to Malaysian caves and fauna!
